Let's turn time back a little; It was a peaceful day as three Gryphons were gliding in the sky calmly. Two Gryphons were flying side by side and the other one was slightly behind the rest.
Sheena and Albert were both enjoying the ride and engaged in small talks. "Fua~~ It's a peaceful day isn't it? It would be great if we can get through rest of the days uneventfully." Sheena stretched her arms lazily as she talk.
Albert nodded and agreed with Sheena, "Ah...... it would be great if we can get through the rest of the days uneventfully, so much had happened today. We should really thank Mister Milton for sending us back to the Academy with the Gryphons."
They engaged in conversation between themselves and recalled the events earlier today. However, the atmosphere suddenly turned gloomy when they talked about the Abyss Beast.
"So...... that's the power of an SS ranked monster. I was too naive...... I had always been praised as a genius and the strongest in my generation, but I couldn't even put a single scratch on the Abyss Beast......" Sheena said that with a downcast expression.
Albert raised his head and looked towards the sky, then he moved his left arm to cover his eyes and agreed with Sheena, "Ah...... We were much too arrogant...... To think that we even conspired to challenge Evangeline who was rumored to be higher than the Transcendence level after we got our familiars...... That was pure arrogance..."
The two riders smiled wryly when they heard the two's conversation. To challenge Evangeline? Even when the Hero King who was revered as the strongest human alive teamed up with the rest of the Heroes and Void Mages, they were still barely able to keep up with that monster, how could these youngster ever hope to challenge such a godly being?
Just when the atmosphere between them were getting heavier, they suddenly heard a shout coming from Sylvia, followed by Caelum. By the time they turned their head to the back, they found that Sylvia was currently......... floating in the middle of the sky......
Everyone who saw this scene was dumbfounded and do not know how to react, they could only mutter in confusion;
"Wait...... what?" (Rider A)
"How is she floating in the sky?" (Rider B)
"Wait...... no!! She's falling!! She's falling!!!" (Sheena)
When Sheena noticed something was not right, she immediately shouted and got everyone out of their daze. However, it was far too late.
“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!” (Sylvia)
"⌈Miss⌋ Sylvia!!!!!!!!!" (Everyone)
Everyone shouted the same name and the peaceful sky turned into utter chaos. Sheena and Albert who had their hands outstretched were about to jump off after Sylvia. If the riders didn't stop them, it might become even more disastrous.
"Stop!!! What do you guys think you're doing!! You will only cause more problem if you jumped off the Gryphon, we can't guarantee we can save all three of you at the same time. Please calm down and just leave this to us! We promise we will save your friend! Hyah!!" Caelum reproached them for their actions as the riders were restraining Sheena and Albert to prevent them from jumping.
The Gryphon that Caelum was riding folded its wings and turned its body 90 degree downwards as Caelum lowered his upper body. They started to descend and fell at a speed even faster than Sylvia. The reason that their speed were faster could be explained with a simple law of gravity, their total mass were higher than Sylvia, and they got into a position so that there will be less air resistance as they fall.
However, even with that, they were still unable to catch up to Sylvia because of their inability to act immediately due to the unexpected situation. One of the reason was because they started late. However, the main reason was due to Sylvidia secretly utilizing the power of Velocity from the runes on Sylvia's right hand to slow down Caelum so that he couldn't catch up.
As Sylvia fell into the thickets, Sheena started to tear up and shouted, "NOOOOOO!!!" at the top of her lungs.
***
"Raaaaaaaarghhhh!!!" I let out a battle howl as I fell into the woods......
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
I moved my hands and legs frantically, trying to grab onto every vines I could find.
"Ow! Oof! Ack! Blegh" As I grabbed the vines, some of them broke in the process, causing me to swing towards a tree trunk and collided. I fell from the tree trunk after that and let out an unslightly groan as I was hit in the stomach by a thick branch. The branch did not break from the impact, instead, I rolled backwards and continue to fall, breaking several branches in the process.
As I fell, I frantically grabbed any vines I could find but most of them couldn't carry my weight and broke almost instantaneously. The vines in this forests are too weak!! However, it's not like it was useless. I could feel my velocity slightly decreasing.
And finally...... there was no more branches and vines in sight, I turned my body to face the ground and saw the Goblin trio as well as the village girl staring at me dumbfoundedly. I was thinking of using the Goblin trio as cushions, so I kicked off from a tree trunk near me, and shouted as I was speeding towards the Goblin trio, "INCOMINGGGGG!!!"
Seeing me lunging towards them like a hunter looking for prey, the Goblin trio was flailing about in panic. They tried to get out of the way, but as they were still in a panicked state, they couldn't think properly, so they stumbled over their own feet and bumped into one another.
As I got closer to the Goblin trio who were stuck in that awkward position, I crossed my hand in front of me to protect my head and brace for the impact.
"Bang! Bang! Crash......!!"
I crashed into the male Goblin with my crossed hands and pushed him back a few steps, and bumped into the other two. As the Goblin trio fell on their feet, my body did a 360 degree revolution and landed on top of them.
After a while, I got up sluggishly and rubbed my head a few times, "Owwwww...... I'm hurting all over the place... uuu ⌈1⌋"
"You should be glad you're in the beast form. Without the physical strength and vitality of the beast-kin, you might not survive the fall." Sylvidia dropped the bomb but before I could retort, she praised, "However... good job on surviving. How does it feel to overcome your death?"
"haar or ghaan, duulkac ⌈2⌋! (Get off me, woman!)" Before I could reply to Sylvidia's question, the black Goblin that I treated as a cushion uttered something angrily from below me, but strangely, I could understand what he was saying.
I turned my attention towards the black Goblin that was below me. Once again, I found myself in an embarassing position so I jumped up immediately and backed away while uttering, "Awawawawawa!"
The female Goblin was going, "Mukiiii!" and staring at me with malice. The other male Goblin on the other hand seems to have fainted from the earlier impact.
The black Goblin stood up and patted the dust off his body, then he pointed at me with one finger and said, "Duulkac, haar or or maagaan! A magaan khruun rhorekaan der o. (Woman, get out of here! I have no business with you.)"
As he said that, he retracted his outstretched arm and finger, then he pointed to his side with the index finger while waving his other arm twice to indicate for me to leave. He probably did that because he thought I couldn't understand the Goblin's language, how considerate. However, the reason why I jumped all the way down here was because......
"I am sorry, Mister Goblin. I'm afraid I can't leave so easily like that. I do have some business with you after all. I'm here to make you submit to me!"
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Author's Note:
...... So how is it that Sylvia can understand the Goblin's language? Find out in the next chapter!
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References:
1. Japanese sound effect for "Urrgh"
2. Goblin language translator: http://www.screwytruths.com/Goblin.html